SPACE Scholarships Transform Children’s Lives

12/6/2013

Just over a month ago our neighborhoods were full of kids dressed up for Halloween. Every child I saw was grinning from ear to ear and clearly enjoying the chance to be a fantasy creature – either scary or beautiful – if just for an evening.

That just gives us a glimpse into the power of SPACE (School of Performing Arts and Cultural Education). Paulette Arnold, one of the directors, can tell you dozens of stories about how children and youth are transformed by participating in the performing arts and exploring who they are through theatre, dance and music.

She recently told me about a young girl whose mother is agoraphobic and afraid to leave the house. The girl, on the other hand, dreams of being an actress and resolutely came to SPACE with her social worker. By her second acting class, the girl was clearly in her element. The social worker told Paulette, “This is the first time I’ve ever seen her smile.”

“Kids are always at risk,” Paulette told me. “Whenever a child gets to have a positive experience, connect with an adult or teen teaching assistant, and receive positive encouragement and feedback, it’s transformative and makes a profound change in their lives. I’ve seen it time and time again during the thirty years I have been teaching. Some kids get it through sports, and for others it is performance.”

Because the SPACE classes have proven to be important to the development of so many young people, Paulette and co-founder/director Laurel Near, along with the Board of Directors, have decided that they should be open to all children, regardless of ability to pay. “We ask people to tell us what they can afford and try not to turn anyone away. In the end, 40% – 45% of the students receive scholarships. These are children of families from all parts of the community. But we only have a limited amount of scholarship money to allocate for each session, so we try to make it go as far as we can.”

As so often happens, outside grant funding for SPACE scholarships has expired in recent years, and it has been left up to local philanthropy to make up the difference. According to Paulette, all of the funds that currently support the scholarship program come from local donors -- both individuals and organizations such as the Veterans for Peace, Ukiah Saturday Afternoon Club, T.R. Eriksen Foundation, and SaveMart Cares (to name just a few). “We ask for quite a bit,” Paulette confesses. “And we are so grateful for what we get. In 2013 we have raised just over half of our goal of $35,000, so there is quite a bit left to do.”

If you want to make an investment in the young people of your community, you probably couldn’t ask for a better return on your investment than you would find by “giving back” in the form of supporting a SPACE scholarship. Just $100 covers approximately 2/3 of the tuition cost for one class – a class that has the power to change a child’s life. To donate online, visit http://www.spaceperformingarts.org/donatemenu.

The Community Foundation supports SPACE through a designated endowment created by a donor to provide ongoing support of the organization, and through a recent Community Enrichment Grant. If you want to find out more about how you can “give back” locally, call me at 468-9882.

Interested in becoming part of the story? We encourage you to learn more about—or make an online donation to—the following: